DofE - Bronze Expedition
by perpetualpathology
Summary: Following the practice expedition, Guy takes the group to the New Forest to complete the Bronze award. But allergies, bruised ribs and lost bearings ensure that the trek won't be as peaceful as some of them had hoped it to be...
1. Chapter 1

**Here's the second installment in this series of six stories! And my last AS exam is tomorrow so I should have the others up soon as I'll have more time :-)**

* * *

Jac, the lead surgeon, was in theatre with Mo assisting, Jonny standing in for a scrub nurse, Adele observing the procedure as part of her training and Jesse, the on-duty anaesthetist for the unconscious patient, who had his thorax cavity wide open on the table.

"Who's looking forward to the trek tomorrow?" Jesse asked with a hint of sarcasm as he sat by the head of the patient. It was the last scheduled operation of the day, after which the staff in the theatre would go home to prepare and rest, and they were nearing the end of the operation.

"I can't believe Mr Self wants us to walk 34 miles in two days." Adele declared.

"I don't know, I think it _sounds_ like a lot, but in reality it's not that really that far." Jonny replied. "The average walking speed is 3pmh, that's just over 11 hours of walking to cover 34 miles and split between two days it's only 5 ½ or 6 hours of walking."

"If you wouldn't mind, could you stop blabbing for one minute and pass me the diathermy scalpel?" Jac asked sarcastically.

"Of course Ms Naylor." Jonny grinned as he passed her the tool.

"And not only do we have to walk _that_ far but we have to meet at the hospital at 7am. I'll have to get up at 5am just to get there on time." Adele huffed.

"Ms Effanga if you're going to persistently moan throughout this procedure you're going to have to leave." Jac declared.

"I second that." Mo added before her sister took a deep breath and then stepped back from the operating table slightly.

"Aren't you a bundle of joy today?" Adele muttered under her breath when suddenly, blood erupted from an artery and it sprayed all over Jac's face.

"Right, we've got a bleed." Mo announced. "I'll take over." She added whilst Jonny grabbed a swab from the equipment trolley and assisted his partner as the crimson liquid had obscured her vision and she had her eyes squeezed shut. Her face mask was splattered with blood as was her surgical gown. "I've got the bleed stemmed." Mo stated as she kept her finger firmly on the rupture site.

"You alright?" Jonny asked after Jac had wiped her face and she blinked several times as she opened her eyes once more.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed.

"You're covered in blood Jac, you can go and wash up while I finish here." Mo stated. "And that doesn't mean you can follow after her Maconie." She added sternly.

* * *

Zosia was sat on the sofa in the living room of the junior doctors' flat, checking her emails on her laptop when Dom leant over her shoulder and glanced at the screen.

"Ooh, why have you got an email from a dating website?" He teased.

"It's just spam. Shut up."

"Yeah sure it is." He laughed before the front door flew open.

"Zosia you absolute idiot." Arthur declared as he entered the room with a washing basket filled with damp pink clothes that he had just retrieved from the communal laundry room downstairs.

"Uh-oh." She muttered.

"You thought nothing would go wrong if you put this in my white washing?" He demanded as he held up a brand new red skater dress that she had snuck into his washing, and it had turned everything a shade of baby pink. "All of my white shirts, my socks, my white tie, my t-shirts, my towel and my underwear are now pink!" He shouted. "I take it these are yours as well, are they?" He questioned as he held up a pair of low top pink converses by the laces

"My new shoes!" Dom shrieked. "Zosia these were white an hour ago." He moaned.

"I didn't know, I'm sorry." Zosia apologised but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but let out a smile at the humour of the situation – everyone else was suffering but her brand new dress was still bright red and there was no harm done to her possession. "On the bright side, it serves you right for putting your shoes in with Arthur's wash Dom." She quipped.

"Ooh trust me, I will get you back for this." He threatened. "This weekend is going to be an absolute disaster. First my shoes get 'pinked' and now I have to go on some stupid expedition in a forest filled with animals that I'm allergic to!" Dom groaned.

"You claim to be allergic to the horses but really I bet you're just scared of them." Zosia teased. "Right, I'm going shopping to get food for tomorrow." She declared as she closed her laptop and placed it on the coffee table in front of her.

"If you get a takeaway on the way back for dinner I might forgive you for dying my shoes pink." Dom stated as he remained deadly serious.

"We both know that you'll wear the shoes – pink or not pink – so stop moaning about it." Zosia quipped as she grabbed her purse and handbag from her bedroom.

* * *

After making love, Jac and Jonny were laid in bed in Jac's apartment staring up at the ceiling whilst their heart rates slowly returned to resting rate.

"Before we did this, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea because of all the walking we'll be doing tomorrow but after that, I'm glad we did." He grinned. "How're your eyes?" He asked.

"Fine." She sighed. "Just remind me to wear goggles next time I operate on Mr Watson." She quipped. "His INR was fine but he was bleeding like someone on warfarin."

"You know Guy told us that we're going to follow the Avon Valley Trail in the New Forest tomorrow?" Jonny began. "Well I've been researching the route, and I've found a shortcut that's miles shorter. So if we get put in a group without Guy Self in it, then we should have only a couple of hours walking as opposed to like 7 hours of walking that he's proposed." He explained.

"And if we do get put in the same group as Guy?" She frowned.

"Then we'll be back to square one." He remarked.

"Well with that useful insight, I'm going for a shower." She declared as she sat up and then disappeared into the ensuite.

"Not without me you're not!" Jonny grinned as he swiftly ran in after her.

* * *

It was a Friday night but Zosia, Dom and Arthur were missing out on a multitude of partying simply because they didn't want to walk 17 miles the next day with a severe hangover or deprivation of sleep. They were sat on the sofas in the living room watching a film together when a thought occurred to Dom.

"How did Jesse finish it in Albie''s when you were with your Dad the whole time?" He asked curiously.

"My Dad was playing darts when he arrived. He said what he wanted to say and then I made a quick escape." Zosia replied simply.

"Do I have permission to anonymously make his life a living hell for the next 48 hours?" Dom asked.

"By doing what?" Zosia frowned. Personally, she hated the man's guts but for the sake of professionalism and pride she hadn't let her guard down at work and had remained seemingly unscathed by the break up.

"Oh, just leave that bit to me." Dom smiled evilly.

* * *

 **If anyone has any general ideas, please let me know :) I've planned what they're actually going to do on each expedition I just need some suggestions of what happens/they get up to!**


	2. Chapter 2

Surprisingly, the junior doctors were a few of the first to arrive in the hospital car park and they all sleepily padded out of Dom's car. Guy and Jesse were already present and they were leaning against the minibus, each with a coffee, whilst Zosia, Dom and Arthur dragged their bags over to the vehicle.

"Morning." Jesse smiled as they stepped up into the back but he didn't receive a single reply as they all got on the minibus.

"J, what's going on between you and Zosia? She's had the hump with you for weeks now." Guy asked confusedly.

"Nothing."

"Well it must be something." Guy protested.

"She just… well we had an argument over the treatment of the patient. Neither of us wanted to admit that we were wrong and she's been in a strop ever since." Jesse stuttered.

"Try and sort it out yeah, just be the bigger person." Guy pleaded.

"I'll give it a go." Jesse muttered as Colette, Mo and Adele arrived with their hiking bags on their backs.

"Good morning ladies." Guy smiled.

"Please tell me that you were joking about us walking 17 miles today." Adele moaned.

"Oh, I can assure you Adele I'd never joke about that." Guy smiled as they dumped their bags in front of the minibus. "The time will fly by when we're walking."

"Oh I very much doubt it." Mo retorted as Jac and Jonny arrived with their bags on their backs and a coffee in each of their hands. "Thanks for getting me one Jonny Mac." Mo said sarcastically.

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd be here this early." Jonny smirked. "I can go and get you something if you want." He offered.

"Get me the usual please." Mo requested as she handed over a ten pound note.

"Oh, and I'll have a cinnamon latte, no sugar." Adele smiled.

"Jac, save me a seat." Jonny huffed as he placed his bag on the floor in front of Jac before he plodded off to the café in the reception of the hospital.

* * *

Once he'd ran everyone's empty coffee cups to the nearest bin, Jesse climbed onto the minibus as they were going to make a move, only he found that the only seat left on the minibus was the seat next to Zosia – the other couple of spare seats were taken up by large hiking bags and equipment. He reluctantly sat down next to the junior doctor and placed his bag in front of him, but before he even had time to put his seatbelt on Zosia got up and exited the vehicle.

"You alright?" Guy asked concernedly as he'd just been about to close the side door.

"Yeah, I'm gonna sit in the front. It's a bit claustrophobic in the back." She muttered as she opened the front door. There was no way in hell that she was going to spend the 1 hour 45 minute journey to the New Forest sitting next to the man who broke her heart.

"Right okay…" He frowned. "Alright everyone get your seatbelts on and we shall get going."

* * *

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to the New Forest." Guy declared as he stood up in front of the group of ten other medical professionals who had gathered around a couple of picnic benches outside of a café where they were about to begin hiking in the middle of nowhere. "Like last time, I want everyone to hand in their mobile phones and other devices _including_ iPads." He said sternly as he glanced at his daughter who proceeded to huff and then sort through her bag to find her tablet. "Now, the teams are as follows: Sacha, Arthur, Zosia, Jac and Jonny. And Colette, Jesse, Dom, Mo, Adele and Myself. When the whole team is ready, you may set off." He stated and Jonny then looked at his partner with a smug grin on his face.

"What?" She demanded.

"Guy isn't in our group; we can take the much shorter route." Jonny grinned.

* * *

"What on Earth are you doing?" Colette frowned as Dom began collecting pebbles from the ground around them as they stood in the carpark, awaiting the return of Jesse – who had gone to the toilet in the café – so that they could set off.

"Just getting a little pay back for a friend of mine." Dom replied innocently as he unzipped the two empty side pockets on Jesse's bag and he began loading the stones in them.

"Oh I wonder who this 'friend' is." Colette sighed dramatically. "You know he did the right thing. Jesse let her down gently, he didn't make a huge fuss and Jesse is more than 10 years older than her, it just wasn't right for them to be together."

"I don't agree with the pairing any more than you do but she was happy with him and then he dumped her in the pub." Dom stated as he squeezed the last few rocks in the pockets of Jesse's bag and then zipped them up. "She's been moping for weeks and in my humble opinion, a couple of harmless practical jokes will cheer her up a bit." He added before he casually pretended to tie his shoe lace up as Jesse returned.

"Right, are we ready to go?" He asked.

"Yep." Dom smiled as Jesse heaved his bag up onto his back and he frowned as he tightened the chest and hip straps. But he seemed to ignore the additional weight as he rubbed his hands together and then the group of 6 set off on their journey.

* * *

"It's a good job you found this shorter route." Sacha aired aloud as he, Jac and Jonny walked together whilst Zosia and Arthur walked on the forest path several meters behind them. They were walking through a large open field, randomly dotted with other hikers and there were numerous wild horses around. "After all, Jac needs to take it easy."

"And why's that?" She demanded.

"Well on the practice trek you had a headache the first day and a backache the second day from sleeping on the ground." Sacha replied which caused Jonny to look sympathetically at his partner; both ailments had just been used as excuses to cover up endometriosis pain but thankfully, the timing of the final expedition had meant that she wouldn't have that problem for the final expedition.

"Well, she's just used to living a life of luxury." Jonny smirked. "She wanted to go out and buy all of the latest camping gear like a massive tent, camping begs, a gas stove and everything but she'd forgotten one small thing: we'd have to carry it for miles." He laughed. "Hang on." He suddenly stopped in his tracks which caused Jac and Sacha to pause and they turned to face him.

"What?" Sacha frowned.

"That girl, she shouldn't be near those horses. There're foals there and the mothers look agitated." He explained concernedly as he looked at the young child – who couldn't have been older than 5 or 6 – observing the wild animals up close and he could see a couple – who were presumably the parents – sitting on a picnic blanket over dozen meters away from her and they clearly hadn't noticed that she was missing. "Stay here." Jonny said sternly to his partner before he dropped his heavy hiking bag on the ground and jogged through the long grass.

"He does realise that they're horses right? Not hyenas." Jac remarked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Mothers of most species get very protective of their young." Sacha reasoned. "Jonny's just being…"

"Jonny's being Jonny." Jac quipped. She watched as Jonny approached the young girl, but the parents then noticed the absence of their daughter and they looked up to see a man approaching her. Of course they jumped up and ran towards her, but the sudden movement startled the horses and they began to panic. One horse began bucking, and Jac saw the hoof of a chestnut coloured horse rise as it bucked, and the next thing she knew, Jonny flew through the air and slammed against the ground with an almighty thud…


	3. Chapter 3

"Jac, be careful!" Sacha shouted as he ran after his best friend through the long grass towards the Scotsman who was on the ground.

"The girl…" Jonny croaked as his partner dived onto the floor next to him. "Make sure she's alright."

"She's fine Jonny; she's with her parents." Sacha said reassuringly but he couldn't help but share the look of concern that Jac had as they realised that he was clutching his ribs from the kick.

"Don't look at me like I've had a kick to the head, just give me a minute. I'm fine." He grimaced.

"If only. It would've knocked some sense into him." Sacha joked but Jac wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"Does it hurt when you inhale?" She demanded as she placed her hands either side of his ribcage to see if she could feel an obvious injury or any movement within his thorax.

"I've just been kicked in the chest by a horse, what do you think?" He remarked.

"I mean it Jonny." She hissed. "Is the pain worse when you breathe in?" She demanded.

"Jac, even if his ribs are broken – and I doubt that they are – you couldn't do anything about it, we'd just have to let them heal." Sacha said to put his best friend at ease, though Jonny felt a warm feeling inside of him as he realised that Jac truly did care for him – even Jac Naylor couldn't hide her feelings during a moment of pure panic.

"Is he alright?" Zosia asked as she and Arthur arrived after marching through the long grass.

"He's had a kick to the ribs." Sacha said simply.

"Ooh. Do you want my stethoscope?" Zosia offered.

"Why on Earth did you bring your stethoscope on this trek?" Sacha protested.

"It was in Arthur's car and I put it in my bag so that I didn't leave it in there again when we get back." She replied as she opened the top section of her hiking bag and then handed the cardiothoracic consultant her maroon coloured stethoscope.

* * *

Similarly, Guy, Dom, Mo, Jesse, Adele and Colette were walking through a field dotted with wild horses and they too had a problem. Well, one of them did – Dom was allergic to horse hair and so his throat felt incredibly tight, he kept on sneezing and coughing _and_ rubbing his eyes.

"We must be nearly there, surely? We've been walking for hours." Dom complained before he rubbed his watering, itchy eyes.

"Yeah Adele, how much longer does the map say? We must be close." Guy asked.

"Um… just give me a minute." Adele frowned before she turned the map around clockwise in her hands, and then around counter-clockwise as she tried to get her bearings right.

"You do know where we are, don't you?" Colette asked. Adele had been left in charge of map reading, though clearly it had been a mistake.

"Oh Adele!" Mo moaned.

"I thought I knew where we were going. It was just once we'd gone past the farmhouse I lost where we were and I couldn't work out what direction we were going in."

"Can we hurry up please because every additional minute we spend near those retched animals, the smaller my airway gets."

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration." Jesse raised an eyebrow. "Here, let me have a look at that map."

* * *

"Right, I do believe that this is our site for the night." Zosia stated as her group arrived at the campsite after following a set of shorted instructions that Jonny had given them.

"Oh thank god." The Scotsman puffed as he dumped his bag on the floor of the beautiful green field, where there were no other tents and just a small unisex toilet and shower block with a lake in front of them. "And I'm not having problems breathing; I'm just a wee bit out of breath." Jonny said sternly to Jac whom he knew had been concerned for the last hour since the incident with the horse.

"Well, it looks nice enough." Sacha shrugged.

"Right, shall we get our tent set up?" Jonny suggested.

"No no, leave that to us. I'll give Jac a hand." Sacha said sternly.

"Honestly, I'm alright." He protested but he grimaced as he bent down to drop his bag from his back to the ground.

"Mm, because someone can be 'alright' if they grimace in pain with every move they make." Jac quipped.

"Sweetheart, need I remind you about your 'backache' and 'headache' on the last trek?" Jonny asked as he maintained eye contact with her.

"Why do you say it like that?" Sacha frowned as he sensed that the pair knew something that he, Zosia and Arthur didn't. "Did she not have a headache or backache?" He asked. Jonny, meanwhile, noticed the look of both desperation and anger in Jac's eyes – she didn't want her condition to be publicly known.

"She did. I just wanted to remind her that not everyone wants a fuss to be made when you're not on top form." Jonny stated. "Come on, we'll set ours up over here." He forced a smile as he slowly bent down and took their tent from the outer straps on his bag and he placed it down on the ground about a dozen meters away from the toilet block and half a dozen meters away from the lake.

"Thank you…" Jac said simply once they were alone. "For not telling them."

"I'd never tell them Jac. You shouldn't have looked so worried."

"You were getting angry; I didn't know what you'd say." She admitted.

"I promise you, I'd never tell anyone without your permission. Not even Mo." He said reassuringly. "Not that it's something that I think you should be hiding but–"

"Shut up Maconie." Jac playfully moaned as she began unrolling the tent package.

* * *

By early evening, both groups had arrived and set up at the campsite. Jesse was just going through his bag to find his spare bottle of water when he found a pocket filled with several pebbles. He frowned in confusion as he felt the sides of his bags, found another area of roughness and he opened the other side pocket to find that that was filled with rocks too.

"That girl's gone too far this time." Jesse muttered to himself as he rose to his feet and exited his tent. He searched around and then saw the junior doctor coming back from the toilet/shower block so he stormed over to confront her. "You thought that it'd be funny to make me carry loads more weight did you?" He demanded as he held up one of the rocks.

"What on Earth are you going on about?" She frowned.

"The rocks."

"Quite frankly, I don't know what you're talking about."

"So you're not even going to take credit for it?" Come on Zosia! You need to get over yourself!" He shouted, and as he stepped forward, Zosia went to step back from the intimidating character but she tripped and fell down to the ground.

"Jesse?" Guy frowned as he came out of the tent to find his daughter lying on the ground on her back looking up to the anaesthetist.

"Guy, it's not what it looks like." He blurted out. Zosia then raised her hands from the dry ground to reveal grazed skin where she had caught it on some small stones.

"Zosh, are you okay?" Dom asked as he quickly went over and knelt down by her.

"I'm fine." She muttered.

"Come on, come back to the tent." Dom said kindly as he helped her to her feet and then they walked away.

"Guy, I swear I didn't push her. She stepped back and fell over." Jesse protested.

"Well then why did she look so scared?" Guy demanded. "If she'd have fallen, she wouldn't look so petrified."

* * *

"Ouch." Zosia gasped as Dom wiped an antiseptic wipe over the palms of her hands to clean the small grazes.

"Sorry." Dom apologised. "He didn't actually push you over did he? I didn't see it properly."

"No, I fell." Zosia admitted.

"I suppose I should probably apologise for filling his bags with rocks too because otherwise he wouldn't have kicked off."

"No, I'm glad you did it. Obviously, Jesse just can't take a joke well." Zosia shrugged. "Right, shall we get a campfire started?" She suggested. "I've got marshmallows and chocolate digestives."

"Yeah sure. I'll grab some of the others to give us a hand too."


	4. Chapter 4

Several people were sat around the campfire reminiscing about some of their worst ever patients when they heard a manly shout and a big splash.

"What was that?" Guy frowned.

"That sounded like Jesse." Adele said concernedly as she rose to her feet and began walking in the direction of the noise.

"What did you do?" Zosia whispered as she noticed that Dom had been absent and he had just discreetly sat back down next to her.

"Don't say anything." Dom whispered with a grin.

"Who the hell did that?" Jesse demanded and Guy shone over an LED torch to see the anaestetist climbing out of the lake with water pouring from his soaked clothes.

"Who did what?" Guy frowned whilst he stifled a laugh.

"Someone just pushed me in." He declared.

"Who?" Colette smirked.

"I bet it was you, wasn't it?" Jesse demanded of his ex.

"Wh–" The junior doctor tried to protest but she was interrupted by her father.

"Zosia was sat around the fire, the whole time with me." Guy stated. "I'm starting to think you're bullying Zosia and quite frankly, I can't work out why."

"I'm not bullying her, _she's_ bullying _me_!" Jesse protested.

"I didn't do anything!" Zosia shouted. "Maybe you just fell and don't want to look like an idiot."

"Oh why does that ring a bell?" Jesse asked, referring to the earlier incident that had occurred that day.

"I _never_ said that you pushed me over." Zosia hissed. "Just stay away from me." She ordered before she sat down again around the fire, seemingly content with the reaction that Dom's action had provoked.

* * *

"Jesus, that is a beauty." Jonny said slowly after taking his shirt off to change for the evening, to reveal a large, rounded, hoof-shaped purple bruise on the side of his ribs. "I could give some of the ED patients a run for their money." He joked half-heartedly to his partner as he pulled on a clean shirt and then climbed through to the sleeping area but he couldn't help but grimace.

"Here, take one of these." Jac ordered quietly as she took a white box out of her bag and handed it to him.

"What for?" He frowned.

"The horse kick." She replied bluntly.

"Yeah but Jac, these're prescribed for _your_ condition." He protested.

"It's only Diclofenac. You're clearly in pain so take one of the tablets and it should help you sleep better, and reduce the pain." She explained.

"If I take one, you are going to have enough when you need it aren't you? I don't want you running out and having to wait in agony for your next prescription."

"I'm on a patient controlled dosage; I can take however much I want, up to every day of the month if I need it so my prescription gets refilled whenever I ask for it. You don't have to worry." She said softly as she passed over a bottle of water.

"Okay." He nodded. He swallowed one of the orange tablets with a sip of water before he began to lay down amongst the blankets that they'd brought with them. "Thank you." He smiled as he put the tablets under the inflatable pillow and then he allowed her to lie down and snuggled up to his non-bruised side.

* * *

Zosia had just washed her face and cleaned her teeth, ready for bed when her father entered the small, unisex toilet block containing only two cubicles.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay, that's all. Jesse seems different today… like he's not the man I used to know." He stated. "He didn't push you, did he? You fell." He concluded.

"Yeah." She admitted.

"But he must've intimidated you or scared you to make you step back which, in turn, caused you to fall to the floor. Correct?"

"Dad, can you just leave it? Please?" She requested.

"Zosia, if he's bullying you–"

"I said leave it." She growled before she stormed out of the building and almost knocked Colette over on her way out of the doorway.

"Col, what am I missing?" Guy asked. "What's happened between Zosia and Jesse? Have they had an argument? I mean Jesse said they had a dispute about a patient or something but... It just doesn't make sense."

"It's really not my place to say Guy." She sighed.

"But you do know what the problem is, don't you?" He concluded. "Please Colette, I just don't understand why Jesse would suddenly be so aggressive towards Zosia and she'd accept it. It's like he's got some sort of power over her… like she wants something from him."

"Guy really, you're better off asking Jesse or Zosia." She stated before she disappeared into one of the toilet cubicles.

* * *

"Can't sleep?" Jonny queried as Jac tossed in his arms once more and ended up facing him with her wavy hair all tussled – not that he could see of course because it was pitch black in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. He was lying flat on his back with one of his arms around her shoulders but she'd been fidgeting quite a lot for someone who was supposed to be asleep.

"No." She huffed.

"My bruise is throbbing, what's your excuse?" He quipped quietly as she attempted to snuggle into the side of his chest with her arms wrapped around his waist.

"I'm not used to sleeping on the cold, hard ground." She sighed.

"Oh, and I am?"

"Well you're Scottish. You all live in places in the middle of nowhere and I'm sure the lack of necessities isn't unfamiliar to you."

"Wow." Jonny chuckled. "You even manage to come up with a racist remark at 3 o'clock in the morning."

"Well, the fact that you're Scottish _and_ the fact that you have a cheap, spine-hostile mattress and I'm used to memory foam." She quipped.

"Well, we're not all on a hundred grand a year." He stated. "Is there anything I can do? Do you want to wear one of my jumpers on top of your jumper to keep you warm?"

"Just stop talking. Everything is always made better when you stop talking." She smiled to herself as she buried her head in his neck, just under his chin and she closed her eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dom was finishing the final task of his revenge pranks using nothing but the moonlight to assist him. At the beginning of the trek, he'd filled Jesse's bags with rocks and then pushed him in the stagnant lake because he'd broken Zosia's heart. But now it was Zosia and Arthur's turn for turning his brand new shoes pink. He silently slipped out of his sleeping bag, stood up in the tent that the three junior doctors were sleeping in and went over to the bag area where various clothes and things were scattered around – it looked like they'd been robbed before he even moved anything.

He took Arthur's phone and then tucked that just inside of Zosia's wash bag and then removed the laces from Zosia's hiking boots and tied them in multiple knots before placing them inside of the shoes themselves. Once he'd swapped a few more things around, he quietly climbed back into bed and swiftly fell asleep, waiting for the carnage to unfold in the morning…


	5. Chapter 5

"Arthur, have you seen my brush?" Zosia frowned after searching through her bag. The pair were attempting to get ready whilst Dom had gone for a shower but it was proving more difficult than they'd expected.

"Is this it?"

"Yes, where was it?" She demanded.

"It was inside the sleeve of my coat." He frowned in confusion. "Are you sure you haven't seen my phone? I can't find it anywhere."

"Why would I have seen your phone? It's not as if I'd actually want to…"

"Want to what?" Arthur asked but he turned around to see Zosia taking his iPhone out of her light blue and white spotted toiletry bag.

"I don't understand. How did that…?" She trailed off as she handed him his phone, but she then noticed the state that her hiking boots were in. "Don't you think it's funny how nothing of Dom's stuff has been messed up?" She aired aloud. "Oh I am going to kill him–"

"No wait. Zosia what if we get our own back?" He suggested.

"What were you thinking?" She asked sheepishly.

* * *

Unfortunately for Jonny, his partner was an early riser so he woke much earlier than he'd like to an alarm on her phone. Once she'd turned it off, she sat up and stretched her arms out before she turned to see his face with a cheesy, sleepy grin on it.

"How's your ribs?" She asked.

"Not too ba–" He begun but he grimaced and groaned as he strained to sit up.

"Let me have a look." Jac ordered and she didn't even give him a chance to protest as she lifted his shirt up to his collarbone, and evaluated the bruise that had gotten slightly deeper and darker overnight. "I'm not sure if you should walk today." She said concernedly.

"Jac, I'm fine. Really." He said reassuringly.

"Do you at least want to take some more diclofenac this morning to take the edge off of the pain?"

"Um… Yeah, go on then. Please." He replied so she reached over to her bag, grabbed the box of tablets from the top as well as a bottle of water and handed them to him.

* * *

Dom had just turned the shower off so he reached past the side of the shower curtain to grab his towel from the bench, only he couldn't find it. He poked his head around the curtain, only he found that his towel, his clothes and his washing gear had all gone missing.

"Maybe this pranking wasn't such a good idea." He muttered to himself as he prepared for complete and utter shame – he knew he wouldn't get his things back until he had drawn attention to himself so he took a deep breath, used his hands to protect what he could of his pride and then exited the toilet and shower block.

"What on Earth…?" Guy trailed off.

"He's finally cracked." Zosia smirked as the others – who had already gathered since they were leaving soon – all watched him stand completely naked with his hands covering what needed to be covered. "Zosia, where are my things?" He demanded whilst Sacha stifled a laugh.

"I don't know, maybe someone moved them." She teased. "It's odd because I couldn't find my brush this morning and Arthur's phone had gone missing."

"But you made my shoes pink! I was getting my own back!" He protested.

"And now we've got our own back Dom." Arthur smiled. Everyone laughed quietly as Dom huffed and then stormed into their tent – which was the only tent that was still standing. They didn't want to be entirely cruel so they'd left it standing so he'd have somewhere to change.

* * *

"Well done ladies and gentlemen, you have achieved your bronze Duke of Edinburgh award." Guy announced after he'd opened the door of the minibus and allowed everyone to step off. "Get some rest, and I'll see you all at work tomorrow."

"My legs are killing me." Dom moaned after stepping down from the vehicle, only to find that the hour and forty-five minute journey hadn't improved the achiness he felt in his legs every time he took a step forward.

"Wimp." Zosia quipped as she dumped her bag on the ground before she hopped down to the car park tarmac.

"Oh and before anybody leaves," Guy began "the silver practice expedition will be in approximately six weeks. The silver award requires a trek lasting three days and two nights and to make it a little interesting, we'll be walking around the perimeter of Loch Ness."

"Oh brilliant!" Jonny grinned though he knew his partner would be of the reciprocal opinion.

"And how far is that?" Colette asked sternly.

"Forty-nine miles but split over three days, it won't be a problem." Guy replied. "I'll email you all further details but I do know that getting the train up there overnight rather than going by minibus will make the journey more comfortable."

* * *

"There you go." Jonny smiled as he turned the taps off in the bathroom. "One steaming hot bath with lavender oil in to help you relax and I've put your new copy of the BMJ just next to the bath if you want something to read." He explained as his partner stood with a thick fluffy towel wrapped around her frame and her long, auburn hair tied back in a tight bun to keep it out of her face.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're after something?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not after anything, I just want to you have a nice evening… and I might possibly just be in a good mood because the next expedition is in Scotland." He grinned. "Go on, in you get."

"I'll get _in_ , when you get _out_." She smiled sweetly as she placed her hand on his chest and gently pushed him out of the bathroom before she closed the door.

"It's not like I haven't seen it all before." Jonny sung before he left her in peace to have a relaxing bath after a long weekend.

* * *

"Jesse." Guy said questioningly as he opened his apartment door to find his best mate standing in the hallway.

"I'm not going to be here long, I just wanted to do this in person." The man admitted as he held out an envelope.

"I don't understand."

"Sorry man, but I can't stay here anymore."

"What? Over a little bit of pranking?" Guy frowned.

"No it's… it's complicated. Besides, you know me. I don't put my roots down anywhere. I've been here long enough and I need to get going again."

"Jesse will you please just tell me what's going on with you and Zosia?" He pleaded. "Look if you're going then why can't you tell me now? I just want to know what's going on."

"I think you already know mate... There's no need for me to spell it out, is there?" Jesse admitted ashamedly.

"Jesse… she's my little girl."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry–"

"How could you take advantage of her like that? You've known her since she was a baby. You held her when she was days old and you slept with her?!" He shouted.

"I know what I did was wrong but at the end of the day Guy, I never forced her into anything."

"Don't you dare insinuate that it was her fault." He growled. "Just get out of my sight and I don't ever want to see you ever again." He stated as he slammed his front door and then took a deep breath. It looked like there was only going to be ten people on the next expedition but until then, he'd have to try to look his daughter in the eye without letting her know what he knew she'd done. After all, she was just a young woman and Jesse Lawe was almost double her age – she'd been taken advantage of.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think of this story and I hope to have the silver practice expedition up soon :)**


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